Chiang Rai Black House

It's hard not to compare the White Temple to the Black House. It's almost as if they were deliberately created as opposites - opposite colors and locations - white is south of Chiang Rai, black is north; white is surreal, black is naturalistic; white is enlightenment and life, black is death. But once you experience each one, you realize that they're not in competition at all. They're both in their own little worlds, seemingly oblivious to their "counterpart" on the other side of town.

The Black House or "Baan Dam" in Thai (บ้านดำ), sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Black Temple, is the creative estate, grounds, and galleries of Thawan Duchanee, a local artist. Because it's his house and not intentionally designed as a tourist destination, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, local bus drivers know about it. Go to the old bus station in the center of town and go to platforms 5 and 6. Tell them you're going to "Baan Dam" - that's literally "Black House" in Thai. It's 18 baht. The bus driver will drop you off in the middle of nowhere. Trust them. I had looked on Google Maps, so I trusted it a little more.

If you're following along, you'll pass the airport road on your right, then a few minutes later you'll pass the university ("CRU") on your left, and you'll know it's coming up soon.

We just walked across the little boardwalk and through the open field and came in from the back side - not an entrance at all, but it worked.

Don't you just love exploring? We love Thailand!

The estate is a collection of a bunch of buildings in various architectural styles, almost all painted black with a few exceptions. So it's hard to say which one is "the" black house, although I guess we'd have to assume it's the first one you come to (if you enter from the front like you're supposed to).

Most involved some type of animal skeleton in the art.

It's creepy at times, interesting at times, but you can't help but look in every doorway and check out every building because it's so random that you just have to see all the things his weird little mind has created. Like this bathroom.

The detailwork is every bit as intricate and amazing as the White Temple.

Keep an eye out for donkeys, snakes, birds, and other random animals he keeps as pets (we heard there's an alligator, but we didn't see it).

Chiang Rai White Temple

There are basically two things to see in Chiang Rai, the white temple and the black temple (well, black house, but whatever). Today, we did the white temple.

We walked over to the old bus station in the center of town and asked around for Wat Rong Khun. They pointed us to platforms 7 and 8. We bought our tickets from the lady there - 20 baht each (about $1.50 total). I've been doing better at reading Thai (I already speak/read/write Cambodian, and Thai characters are similar), so I was sure we were right because it said วัดร่องขุ่น on the little sign.

We got on the bus and waited forever until it was finally full, and then we headed out down the main road toward the temple. You can see the temple off to the right after about 30 minutes, so you won't miss it. The bus lets you off on the left (they drive on the left side of the road), so you have to cross the highway to get to the temple. No crosswalk, but it's not too bad if you're a little patient, and there's a traffic light and a median to help you out.

It was a little cloudy and drizzly when we arrived, but it cleared up a little later to give us some nice pictures.

The grounds around the temple are immaculate and pristine. They really do a great job keeping the buildings sparkly white and the grounds colorful and trimmed.

As you start to explore and look closer, the place gets weirder and weirder. This is not your normal temple.

Demons guard the bridged entrance to the white temple.

The hands of those suffering in hell? Reaching up toward the heavenly white temple?

Hellfire and damnation await those who smoke here.

Beheaded heros/villains in a temple?

This is probably the last thing I want to see before I pray/meditate in a temple.

If you go off to the left, there's a separate building that wasn't open to the public yet, but it was even cooler than the main temple.

The attention to detail is just incredible!

The white temple is so shiny and sparkly!

The artist that has designed and dedicated his life to building this masterpiece is named Chalermchai Kositpipat, and supposedly he was working up on the roof of one of the buildings today. He has been building this place for more than 15 years, and he has plans for it to continue long after his death. You can see parts that are mapped out for additions, and you can see signs throughout that it is definitely a work in progress. This would be very cool to come see in another 10 years or so.

You can see that they've mapped out a grid on the back wall of the temple for future artwork

We wanted to support his efforts, so we donated to the temple (the temple and grounds are free to visit) and got this ornament to add to the collection.

Photography is prohibited in the main sanctuary in the center, which is too bad because it's almost impossible to describe. Take the normal buddha storyline, but then add modern characters and events, both fictional and real, and mash them all together in one giant mural across all inside surfaces. Oh, and a weird giant face eating the entry door. And buddha on top. Some of the scenes include spider-man, superman, Harry Potter, Jack Sparrow, the WTC attack, Pearl Harbor, Sailor Moon, Hello Kitty, and Michael Jackson. Artists were adding scenes while we were in there too, so this may be a constantly changing canvas. All in a Buddhist temple. It's interesting and unique, to say the least.

For more info on the white temple, click here for a very helpful page.

On the way back, we flagged a songthaew for 20 baht each and and Isa sat up front and I sat in the back with this guy.

He didn't speak any English, but that didn't stop him from having a full conversation with me in Thai. Every once in a while I would just smile and nod and agree with him, and it made him happy and he kept talking and gesturing with his hand like he's doing in the picture. For 30 minutes. I think he was genuinely sad when we got to town and I got off.

Travel Day: Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai Green Bus

We slept in to make up some sleep since we got to bed so late on Saturday and Sunday night (if you haven't read about Yi Peng yet, seriously it was such a magical unbelievable amazing experience) and then checked out and grabbed a songthaew over to the bus station on the edge of town. It was comfy.

We got to the bus station and figured out the queue system Green Bus has going on (there's a ticket machine off to the right of the windows that gives you a number when you push the button, then you wait for your number to be called like you're at the DMV or something). The next available bus to Chiang Rai wasn't for a few hours, so we went upstairs to hang out. There happens to be a massage parlor, which was perfect for Isa. And they had internet, which was perfect for me. So I wrote all the blog posts from this weekend.

The bus was fine. Nothing fancy like the VIP bus we took to come up here. This bus was an X-class. Four seats across, two on either side of the aisle, with a little shelf space above your head for smaller bags. They gave us snacks - a bottle of water and some weird chips that weren't good. It's a fairly quick trip of about 3 hours through the mountains of northern Thailand (although I think our bus driver had a hot date because he was driving like a maniac passing other buses and cruising up the shoulder). It's pretty, but it was getting dark, cloudy, and a little rainy so our pictures aren't that spectacular.

I took mostly video of this trip, so I'll post that when I get around to editing it. Then you'll be able to see the bus, seats, and get a better idea of the trip. When we arrived in Chiang Rai, our hotel was just a few blocks from the bus station, so we opted to walk instead of taking a songthaew. We passed this cool clock tower on the way. Yay! Chiang Rai!